The new era of Supercars begins today in Newcastle

It will be the first ever session of the new era for racing between the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang – the Gen3 Supercars that have been in development over recent years and are now ready for racing.

A huge crowd is expected this weekend for the first event in Newcastle since 2019. With new cars comes the notion that it could be the tightest year of competition in recent times.

That said the driver to catch remains Red Bull's Shane van Gisbergen who enters 2023 searching for his third consecutive Driver's Title following his record breaking 2022.

The new #97 Red Bull Camaro will be one of 14 Chevrolet's on the grid this year, battling 11 Ford Mustangs.

There is three rookie drivers this year; Canberra's Cameron Hill (Camaro/Truck Assist Racing), highly-regarded 20-year-old kiwi Matthew Payne (Mustang/Penrite Racing) and reigning Dunlop Super2 Series Champion, Mackay's Declan Fraser (Mustang/Tradie Racing).

Rising stars Anton De Pasquale, Broc Feeney, Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert are expected to fight for wins all year and will be among the contenders when racing gets underway on Saturday.

Veterans Will Davison, James Courtney, Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds will also be in the hunt while youngsters like Brodie Kostecki, Andre Heimgartner and Will Brown are expected to cause an upset or two throughout the year.

Today will feature three practice sessions for Supercars as well as various practice and qualifying sessions for support categories, including the new-look Dunlop Super2 and Super3 Series.

Every practuice, qualifying and race session of the Thrifty Newcastle 500 will be broadcast live on Foxtel and the Seven Network, with Kayo and 7plus streaming the event.

Tickets are available through Ticketek.